Jul 26 2008
You’ve Got Mail Was a Remake?!
…was exactly what I said when Netflix recommended me the musical “In the Good Old Summertime” starring Judy Garland.
Apparently, there are FIVE versions of the story:
1. Parfumerie (also known as “llatszertar”) - a Hungarian play written by Miklós László in 1937
2. The Shop Around the Corner (1940) - black and white movie starring Margaret Sullavan and Jimmy Stewart
3. In The Good Old Summertime (1949) – MGM musical starring Judy Garland and Van Johnson
4. She Loves Me (1963) - Broadway musical that had revivals in both New York and London during the nineties
5. You’ve Got Mail (1998) – romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks
The basic original story: Two bickering co-workers who can’t stand each other in real life don’t know that they are each others secret pen pals who refer to each other as “Dear Friend”. Inevitably, they plan to meet and it does not go well. The male lead sees the female lead through the window of a café and instead of saying that he is her pen pal, he teasingly prods her, resulting in her insulting him to the point that he storms out. Thinking that her “Dear Friend” stood her up, the female lead becomes depressed and cannot go into work the next day. The male lead, realizing he’s been quite a jerk, consoles her and begins a sort of friendship with her, all the while still sending the anonymous letters. At the end of the film, the female lead is on her way to try to meet her “Dear Friend” again and the male lead tells her that he has met her pen pal and that he is old, fat, and bald. Disappointed, the female lead confesses that she was always attracted towards the male lead to which he confess his love for her and that he is her pen pal and all is well!
After discovering this, I simply had to see as many versions as I could and compare them. I would have loved to have seen She Loves Me for an extra musical comparison, but the show has been long closed. Instead, I took out all three movie versions from Netflix.
The Shop Around the Corner (1940) is praised for the two leads having excellent chemistry, but I don’t think they were put in enough situations to really display this. Sure the scene where they snipe at each other in the café is hilarious and they are cute and charming at the end, yet while at the store they didn’t really interact that much. Still, saying they had chemistry in this film is nowhere near as ridiculous as when everyone said Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan had wonderful chemistry in Sleepless in Seattle; a film where they weren’t onscreen together until the final few minutes! On another note, I found it amusing that I had no idea the film took place in Hungary except for when they referred to money as the pengo.
Final thoughts: cute story never-the-less, a great supporting cast with their own storyline going on, and it’s always a pleasure to watch a movie with Jimmy Stewart.
In the Good Old Summertime (1949) is one of those musicals where the numbers are simply put in just to pass the time. Unfortunately, I abhor these types of musicals; I prefer the songs to help the plot move along. But Judy Garland of course has an amazing voice and her bickering with the male lead, Van Johnson, is cute. Most of the story remains the same except for the facts that the movie took place in a music shop in Chicago at the turn of the century. I also could have done without the added “cute meet” at the beginning of the film where the two leads literally crash into each other and can’t compose themselves after several tries, but that’s just the cynic in me talking.
Final thoughts: still cute (since it’s the same story), excellent performances all around, but I’d rather watch the original.
Obviously, You’ve Got Mail is not as true to the original as the other versions were, but I couldn’t help but like it and trust me, I tried hard not to! I was pleased with the way it was modernized, yet certain lines and scenes (such as the dreadful meeting in the café) stayed almost true to the original. I’ve heard many complaints from those who are fans of the original and I think most of the complaints are just silly.
One person said they thought that You’ve Got Mail was too political correct, but how were the other films so un-PC? In fact, the musical version (as most musicals do) changed the story in slight ways just to cheer it up a bit.
Another person complained that the ending was to drawn out in You’ve Got Mail. While it is true that the timing could have been better, I preferred that it took time for the female lead to warm up the male lead. I’d find it highly improbable if the day after he put her store out of business, she realized she was madly in love with him. Plus, I liked that the male lead had to work at gaining her affections – no need to make everything easy on his after all her had done to her!
The most common compliant is that the two leads were in relationships while they were in contact with each other. Someone even said it seemed “sleazy” of them. Besides the fact that neither was in a relationship they really wanted to be in (something that is quite common today and in the past), I thought it showed exactly how innocent emails can unintentionally turn into something more.
Final thoughts: Secretly optimistic cynics like me will prefer this version, but all true romantics at heart should stick to either the original or the musical.
